IN APRIL, 1785, four families attempted to form a permanent settlement at the mouth of the Scioto, upon the present site of Portsmouth.  They came down the Ohio from Redstone, Pennsylvania, and believing that a permanent peace had been effected between the Indians and whites at this point, selected their lands and began the work of tilling the soil.  While on an exploring tour up the valley, lured hither by the glowing accounts they had heard of the wonderful beauty and fertility of the country, the four men were attacked by their camp-fire at night, and two of the party were killed, the others escaping.  they lost no time in reaching the unprotected women and children at the mouth of the Scioto, where they imparted the sad intelligence of the death of their two comrades.  Embarking upon their boat with their few belongings, they were soon en route for more secure quarters at Limestone, Kentucky.
     It was after this that the settlements were made at Marietta, Gallipolis, North Bend, Columbia and Cincinnati, of all of which sufficient mention is made in the State history.  The settlement of the Scioto valley was delayed by order of Congress.
     Before proceeding with an account of the settlement and organization of Ross county, a brief review of the question of title to the lands will be necessary.  As is well known, the French were the first civilized people who laid claim to the territory now embraced within the State of Ohio, and France retained nominal lordship of the region until the Treaty of Paris in 1763, when the territory northwest of the Ohio came into possession of Great Britain.  The English retained possession until the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, 1783, after the close of the Revolutionary war.  The United States then became the sovereign of the territory, but did not entirely supplant the British for twelve years.
     All this was aside from the claims of the real inhabitants of the land.   The Iroquois Indians, or Six Nations, laid claim to the entire

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Ohio country, basing their claims upon the assumption that they had conquered it, and held the territory by right of conquest.  This claim was extinguished by the terms of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, concluded Oct. 22, 1784.  The treaty of Fort McIntosh in 1785 was intended to quiet the claims of the Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas and Chippewas, in the Ohio Valley.  The Shawanees relinquished their claims under the provisions of the treaties of Fort Finney, Jan. 31, 1786, treaty of Fort Harmar (held by General St. Clair), Jan. 9, 1789, by the treaty of Greenville, Aug. 3, 1795, and various other treaties from that date until 1818.  It is a notable fact that every foot of Ohio soil was acquired from the Indians through honorable means embodied in treaty or purchase.

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introduction of slavery would ultimately prove injurious to our country.  I am clearly of the opinion that it ought not to be admitted in any shape whatever."
     But while the question of slavery was forever settled by the adverse decision of a majority of the Constitutional convention, it was not so with the question of negro suffrage.  The convention was controlled by men from the slave holding states of Virginia and Kentucky, yet they were found to be badly divided on this point.  One of their own leaders, Charles Willing Byrd, a "Virginian of the Virginians," was persistent in his advocacy of the negro's right to vote.  On the adoption of the article of the Constitution bearing upon that subject, fourteen voted to abolish all race distinctions in the qualifications of electors; and on the same day, by a vote of nineteen to fifteen, the convention adopted a proviso, "That all male negroes and mulattoes, now residing in this territory, shall be entitled to the right of suffrage, if they shall, within six months, make a record of their citizenship."  By a vote of seventeen to sixteen, the convention refused to extend this proviso to the descendants of such negroes and mulattoes as shall be recorded.  As an index to the division of opinion at that time, ti may be added that this proviso, on final adoption by the convention, was stricken out by the casting vote of Edward Tiffin president of the convention, the vote standing seventeen to seventeen without him.  This matter is of interest as showing the feeling at that time toward the colored race.
     As further indication of the political prominence of the Ross county party in shaping the destinies of  the future state, it may be added that the constitutional convention was the first fruits of their great victory.  It was their convention.  Massie and his fellow Chillicotheans controlled it completely.  They had asserted the right of the people to govern themselves through their representatives, and in a fair field had defeated the paternal policy of their governor and his followers.  It is but necessary to study in proceedings, through the various committees, to discover the iron grip with which they held and fully directed the actions of the convention.
     The constitution being adopted, Worthington was commissioned to bear the precious document to the national capital to secure the approval of Congress.  This was formally given by an act passed Mar. 3, 1803.  The constitution provided for the election of state officers and members of the general assembly on the 11th of January, 1803, and that the general assembly should meet at Chillicothe on the first of March following.  This was another triumph of the Ross county party.  Edward Tiffin was chosen governor, while Massie, Worthington and Baldwin were elected members of the general assembly, which was organized by electing Massie president of the senate

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and Baldwin speaker of the house of representatives.  Thomas Worthington was chosen as one of the two United States senators, and William Creighton, a brother-in-law of Massie and Byrd, was elected the first secretary of state, thus beginning a long and useful public life.
     This was only a recognition of superior merit, the culminating point being reached through the force of the peculiar circumstances surrounding the State organization.  The very distinguished gentlemen whose names have already been written, as well as many others, possessed the inherent characteristics which will compel recognition, regardless of favoring circumstances.  Four governors and five United States senators is but a moiety of the political honors awarded Ross county.  The Ross county governors were Edward Tiffin who served from Mar. 3, 1803, to Mar. 4, 1807; Thomas Worthington, from Dec. 8, 1814, to Dec. 14, 1818; Duncan McArthur from Dec. 18, 1830, to Dec. 7, 1832; and William Allen, from Jan. 12, 1874, to Jan. 14, 1876.  The United States senators from Ross county were, from 1803 to 1807, Thomas Worthington; from 1807 to 1811, Edward Tiffin; Thomas Worthington are re-elected in 1809 and served until 1813, when he resigned, his successor being Joseph Kerr, who served the unexpired term, or until 1815; William Allen served from 1837 until 1849.  Allen G. Thurman, reared at Chillicothe and a resident there for forty years, was elected senator while his home was at Columbus, and served in 1869 to 1881.
     Local interest in these early political affairs of the county may justify a digression by way of explanation as to why there was such a feeling of antagonism between Ross county politicians and the Territorial governor, Arthur St. Clair.  Briefly stated, the chief executive of the Territory was a man of most positive views, obstinate and unreasonable under opposition, and devoid of fairness - a mild term - in the adjustment of differences.  He strongly advocated a division of the territory into three states, the minute details of which are unimportant here, except that Ross county, as at present established, would have been in two of these states, the Scioto being the proposed boundary between the eastern and middle state, under the proposed scheme. 
     St. Clair was bitterly opposed to the formation of the State as at present established, and did everything in his power to defeat the purposes of those of different views.   Through his influence an act was passed by the territorial legislature on the 21st of December, 1801, as previously mentioned, providing for the division of the territory into three states, according to his pet scheme.  In this he was joined by one Ross county representative - Elias Langham - whose political death-knell was sounded in consequence.  Paul Fearing, the delegate to Congress, was also one of St. Clair's followers in advocating the territorial division, and the final establishment of three states

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instead of one.  As is known, Ross county was formed in 1798 from territory then embraced in Adams county.  These counties stood together in opposition to St. Clair; and by some machination, known only to politicians, they were deprived of a part of their representation in the Territorial Assembly.  At the same time (1801) the above mentioned act was passed as an expedient fostered by the northwestern, northern and a few members from the southwestern part of the territory - a coalition of forces to curtail the strength and influence of the counties which were striving for state government.  That this scheming engendered a bitter partisan feeling need not be told.  A vacancy occurred in the Territorial Council by the withdrawal of Major Vanderburg.  Ross and Adams out forward General Massie and Colonel Finley as candidates for the position, knowing that in the selection of either they would have an able advocate in that body of the general assembly.  But the combination against the middle counties, in which Langham figured actively, prevented the appointment, and placed Mr. Sibley, of Detroit, in the position; hence the middle counties had no representation in the Council.  With this condition of affairs existing, and the official prestige of the governor arrayed against the measures advocated by the Chillicothe party, supplemented by a few other active workers in other localities, they entered into the combat, as fully described elsewhere.  The partisan feeling was so strong against St. Clair that he was even threatened with violence; and in the winter of 1801 Thomas Worthington, at the risk of his own life, rescued the governor from a mob and assisted him to a place of safety.  How thoroughly unpopular the governor was illustrated by the following anecdote printed in the Scioto Gazette July 2, 1802: "A person from the country arriving in town on Wednesday evening last, during the exhibition ask'd a bye-stander the cause of the rejoicing, who was answer'd, that it was in consequence of the stamp act, excise law, &c., expiring and being burned that evening; why, is that it? says the honest farmer.  I thought the governor was dead."
     The Ross county political leaders of those days must not be classed with revolutionists, or primitive anarchists.  On the contrary, they were men of high intellectual attainments, cultured in the affairs of men, and liberally schooled in the world's history.  They believed in the eternal principles of right and justice; and the motive which actuated them in their opposition to St. Clair and his followers were prompted by a desire for the public welfare and not by personal animosity.  But it is doubtful if this disposition to "temper justice with mercy" extended universally to the rank and file of the populace - the opposite is indicated in the attempted assault upon St. Clair, which was not the only demonstration of that character during the early meetings of the Territorial legislature in Chillicothe.

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